


Pidge vs. The Elements

by AppleQueen37



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drowning, F/M, Fire, Fluff, Friendship, Rain, Saving Pidge, Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-09 09:11:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20992334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppleQueen37/pseuds/AppleQueen37
Summary: A series of one-shots involving Pidge getting into trouble with the forces of nature.





	1. Water

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I hope you all enjoy this story! I've always found it interesting that the boy's original four lions have the powers of the elements: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. Therefore, I decided to incorporate that idea into this story. These one-shots can connect or not, it's up to you. If you decide to connect them, they are not written chronologically with their ages. I just wanted to let you all know that. 
> 
> I really planned on writing more fics, but it's my first year in college and I've had a huge workload. Hopefully, I'll get to write some more soon. Until then, I hope you enjoy this short and sweet fic!

Pidge was sure that her skin was going to burst into flames. It didn’t matter how much zinc she slathered over her body, or how little time she spent out of the shade of her bright green beach umbrella, the sun always managed to lock onto her pasty pale skin and fry it within moments. 

Despite the risk of third-degree burns, she enjoyed the beach. It was a nice change of scenery from her everyday life in the city or at school. The golden sand was soft beneath her toes. The cool breeze felt nice on her face. The lapping waves were almost hypnotic in the way they moved back and forth and back and forth out to sea and back to the shore, tickling the children’s toes as they ran along the edge. 

It was beautiful. Still, though, she knew that she would regret it all immediately when she gets home and is forced to slather herself in aloe vera. She closed her eyes and breathed in the salty ocean air.

Her peace was immediately interrupted by a beach ball to the face. 

“What the hell?” she yelled, taking off her glasses and rubbing her sore face. 

Her only response was laughter. She took her hand away from her faze and glared up at the perpetrator. 

“Come on Pidge! Join us!” Lance said, the Cuban boy unfazed by the glowering look she was giving him. His eyes, as crystal blue as the ocean they were visiting, were glittering with mirth. 

Pidge ignored him, wrapping her towel further around herself and focusing on the book she was reading. 

“We’re supposed to be having fun!” Lance whined. “You promised that when we got here, you wouldn’t be boring.”

“No, I said that I wouldn’t be bored. There’s a difference, and I’m keeping my word.” She held up her book for him to see. “I’m having a blast.”

Lance groaned. “You’re so lame.” She smirked. “It’s not every day that we get to go to the beach. Can’t you just not be a nerd for a little while and enjoy it?”

“Lance, you know more than anyone that the sun and I don’t mix.”

Lance would take her with his family to the beach often when they were kids. They had a great time, but it always ended the same way: Pidge looking like a lobster. Lance never burnt. Never. He wouldn’t even put sunscreen on and he still was immune to the sun's rays. 

Screw him and his melanin-infused skin. 

“Come on,” he continued, still not willing to give up. “Are you telling me you don’t want to go in the water?”

“Yup.”

“Not even a little bit?”

“Nope.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

Lance sighed, slapping his forehead. Pidge grinned. It was always nice to be the one to get under his skin for a change. She spared a glance past him to the rest of their friends. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves. Shiro was shredding the waves on his surfboard, Allura and Coran were scouring the shoreline for shells to add to Allura’s monstrous collection, and Keith was being buried up to his neck in the sand by Hunk, Matt, and Shay so that all you could see was his head. Shay was making him a mermaid tail and Hunk was covering his hair with some of the little white flowers that were growing on the beach. Keith was turning out to be a very attractive merman. 

Pidge was happy that they were all having fun, but she honestly wasn’t feeling any inclination to join them. Maybe she would if she just had the ability to tan. When she looked back to Lance, her heart sank. How dare he give her that look? That was just completely unfair. 

He was giving her the puppy dog eyes. 

Pidge groaned, putting her head into her hands. He knew that she couldn’t resist his puppy dog eyes. She never could. Not once in their years of friendship had she ever managed to say no to him when he gave her those eyes. 

“Fine,” she said, the sound slightly muffled by her hands. Lance whooped. “But only for a little whi….WOAH!”

She yelped as Lance lifted her off the ground and out of the safety of her beach umbrella, and took off towards the water. Pidge kicked and punched at her friend, but was unable to stop from joining him in his laughter. Her towel fell around his ankles, and he nearly tripped, only catching himself just in time. Pidge smacked him on the head for nearly killing her. He responded by launching her into the air. She didn’t even have enough time to scream before she hit the water. 

It was colder than she thought it would be. She could feel it deep into her bones through her t-shirt. She cursed Lance for not giving her enough time to change out of her clothes. Now she would be all wet as they drove back home. Her toes searched for the ocean floor beneath her. It was deep, but she could still barely touch it. She pushed off the ground with all her might. 

When her head broke the surface, she was immediately greeted with Lance’s laughter. She raised both of her arms to give him obscene gestures, which only made him more hysterical. 

“You’re lucky that my glasses didn’t fall off, asshole!”

“So..sorry about that,” he wheezed. “Here,” he clapped his hands. “I’ll put them back with your stuff. 

It was only because she trusted Lance’s catching abilities better than her throwing ones that she tossed her precious glasses to him. Even with her blurred vision, she could tell that he had been successful from his cheer of triumph. He’s lucky. If he had failed, he would have been in for an extreme butt whooping. 

She was about to tell him so when she heard him scream her name. She frowned and turned around, freezing at the sight before her. Pidge had been to the beach countless times. She had swum in the ocean countless times and had seen countless waves, but none had ever come close to being as huge as the one before her. Or maybe it was because she was so close to this one that it seemed so monstrous. Whatever the case, there was absolutely nothing she could do but let it crash over her. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

When he saw that wave, Lance thought his heart stopped. He tried to give her a warning, but it had been too late. The wave had completely swallowed her. He couldn’t move. He was frozen in fear. Sure, Pidge was a good swimmer, but she was so small. So tiny. So easy to push down without much effort. He couldn’t help but think about how light she had been in his arms. 

Lance breath caught in his throat. The wave pulled back, but there was no sign of Pidge. The freezing spell that had been placed on him by fear had been lifted and Lance found himself sprinting towards the ocean. He heard Shiro call his name, but didn’t bother replying before he dove into the depths. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

The icy water shook her system as she was forced beneath the ocean's surface. Pidge’s heart raced and her chest tightened. She felt so disoriented. She couldn’t tell which way was up or down. Everything felt and looked the same. She kicked her legs as hard as she could, trying to force herself in a direction she hoped was up. Her chest was on fire. She needed to breathe. 

She exploded from the water, spraying droplets everywhere. She gulped and gasped, filling her lungs with as much of that sweet, life-giving air as she could. She looked around, but everything was a blur. Oh, how she wished she could have been blessed with twenty-twenty vision. From what she could tell, she seemed farther away from the shore. The wave must have dragged her farther out to sea. 

Before she could gather her bearings, another wave crashed over her and she was plunged into darkness once again. The salty water brushed against her lips and invaded her nose. She instinctively let out a deep breath of air through her nose to blow the water out, immediately regretting it right after. Her head was pounding. Her entire body seemed to be screaming for oxygen and she wanted nothing more than to breathe in. 

Thankfully, she found the surface once again, coughing and spitting up water. She had to get to shore. Her arms and legs wailed as she forced them to move. Her limbs felt weighted, heavy. It seemed impossible to move them. Her body ached for a rest, but she willed herself to keep going, to keep kicking. She must keep going. 

Pidge found herself in a fierce battle between her mind, which wanted to keep moving, and body, which wanted to give up. Her body was quickly winning this fight. As much as her mind willed them to move, they just refused to. She soon found herself slipping beneath the surface again. 

Her clothes swirled uselessly around her, weighing her down even more. A slight pressure pushed on her chest. Her lungs burned, the urge to breathe becoming unbearable. She could see the sunlight filtering down through the water. The light was so beautiful. 

And growing farther and farther away. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Lance’s body was yelling at him to stop. His lungs were begging him to take some deep breaths. He was doing neither. All that mattered was getting to Pidge, who was nowhere to be found. Sunlight managed to find its way under the water, but it wasn’t enough to be able to see clearly in the murky depths. That didn’t stop him from looking though, for a head of brown hair, a green t-shirt, an orange sneaker, anything that would lead him to find Pidge. 

Something moved in the corner of his eyes. He whirled around, scared that his mind was playing tricks on him. It wasn’t. Thank God it wasn’t. He pulled himself through the water and wrapped his arms around the teeny tiny waist of his friend. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pidge’s chest hurt. Her head hurt. Everything hurt. She was quite put out by this. Weren’t you not supposed to feel anything when you died? That was, theoretically, the only upside to being dead. She hoped that the pain was just a temporary thing. It would suck if she was forced to feel that way for all of eternity. 

Her eyes flickered. She could see a faint light coming in through the darkness. Sound was starting to return too. A bunch of voices, all muffled. She couldn’t make out what any of them were saying, but they sounded concerned. She wiggled her finger and was delighted to feel it move. She tried the same with her toes to similar success. 

Ok. Maybe she wasn’t dead. That was good news. 

She was just congratulating herself on not dying when she felt something weird being pressed against her lips. It wasn’t anything she had felt before. It was soft and moist and tasted a little salty, but it also felt nice. As soon as she started to appreciate this strange, new feeling, a bunch of air was forcefully pushed into her lungs. 

Pidge lurched forward, coughing, breaking the connection with whatever was against her lips. After a few moments of gagging and coughing up the rest of the seawater in her system, she was finally able to fully open her eyes and register what was going on around her. 

She was lying on her back on the sand, her head in her brother’s lap. People were crowded all around her. A soon as they realized she was awake, they all started barraging her with questions. 

The world started to spin a little. She was feeling overwhelmed and claustrophobic. She turned her head to see Lance by her side, his face suspiciously close to her own. 

The realization of what that mysterious feeling had been hit Pidge like a truck. She gasped, slapping her hand over her mouth. The questioning increased, and Pidge was forced to allay their fears, despite wanting nothing else but to crawl into a hole and be all alone. 

“I’m sorry,” came a soft voice. Pidge was surprised to see that voice come from the normally loud and bubbly Lance. “This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have forced you to swim. I shouldn’t have thrown you into the ocean. I…”

“It’s fine,” she stammered, her face turning red. She could practically hear her heart hammering in her chest. “Just...just don’t do it again. You hear?”

He nodded. “I got you,” he said with a small smile. 

Pidge could feel her face heating up even more. His smile. The sound of his voice. Everything was too much. Why did she want to feel his lips on hers again? What on earth could have possibly made her want to be kissed by Lance?

It was the seawater in her brain, she decided after a moment or two. There was no other explanation for it. She just suffered a near-death experience and was hallucinating. That was all. 

Lance’s smile flashed into her head again and she found herself melting. 

It better have just been the seawater.


	2. Earth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy this!
> 
> I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.

According to the GPS, Pidge was going in the right direction. According to her instincts, though, she was not. Then again, Pidge had a horrible sense of direction, so she knew her best bet was to just suck it up and trust the computer. 

Why she agreed to go to her stupid brother’s stupid party, she had no idea. That wasn’t entirely true. She knew perfectly well why she agreed to go. Her brother had been begging her nonstop for weeks, trying to get her to feel guilty about not attending her poor, poor brother’s college graduation party. The words ‘what kind of sister would do such a thing?’ and ‘you’re breaking my heart’ were some of the more frequent phrases he used to try to convince her. 

Then the bribing started. At first, he offered her unlimited access to all his video games. Then he said he would give her his stash of peanut butter m&m’s. Then he said he’d check her homework. 

She finally caved when he added twenty bucks to the list. 

As she was driving along this narrow two-lane dirt road in the middle of the forest with her headlights as her only light source, she knew she should have made it fifty. 

Whose brilliant idea was it to have the party at Shiro’s cabin in the woods? It was in the middle of nowhere and a horror movie waiting to happen. Matt, Shiro, Lance, Hunk, Keith, Allura, and Coran all offered to drive her there. Unfortunately, her horrible work schedule prevented her from taking any of them up on their offers, as she would be leaving work a good three hours after the party started. 

They all insisted that it wasn’t a big deal, and they’d be happy to leave to pick her up, but she declined. After having to drive her inebriated brother home so many times (he got drunk after a bottle and a half of beer) she knew how annoying it could be to leave in the middle of a party. Not that she was a party girl. On the contrary, a good Friday night for Pidge consisted of herself, a week's worth of snacks, and the newest video game. She just wasn’t a fan of people, especially large crowds of them. But she promised her brother she would be there and she would keep her promise. 

As it started to rain, she was regretting her decision even more. 

Her already limited visibility dropped by 73%. It continued to drop even more as she drove on and on, finally getting to the point where she could barely see the front of her car, much less the road in front of her. 

Things could not get any worse. 

Just as she was thinking that it did. 

Crash!

Pidge’s whole body lurched forward with her car. The only thing that stopped her from flying through the windshield was the airbag that exploded out in front of her. It slammed into her chest, taking her breath away and snapping her head back. She blinked, trying to process what had happened. 

She had run into a tree.

What did the world have against her?

Her whole windshield had shattered from the force of the impact, causing her to get drenched within moments. She reached up her hand to touch her face and winced at the stinging feeling in her forehead. She must have gotten cut from the exploding glass. 

Pidge took a deep breath, trying to calm down her body from the swarm of adrenaline pumping through her veins. She got in a wreck, but everything was going to be fine. Insurance would pay for the damage done to her car, she would call for help, they’d take her to the hospital, and then she’d have an excuse not to attend her brother’s party. 

She grinned. She could only imagine the look of horror on his face when he learned of what had happened to his beloved little sister. He owed her big time. She couldn’t wait to see what he was going to do to make up for all this. 

She reached for her phone to call for help. She found emptiness in her pocket. Her heart dropped. She checked her other pocket. Nothing there. She looked around, groaning when she spotted it in the back seat. She reached for it, but her short arms weren’t long enough. She tried to extricate herself from her seat, but she was trapped by both the airbag and where the car caved in. She was pinned down with no way to escape and no ability to call for help. 

Well wasn’t this just perfect?

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Pidge didn’t know how much time had passed. All she knew was that she was freezing, her hands were numb, and it was getting hard to breathe from all the weight on her chest. The rain had stopped, so that was good. It didn’t make escape any easier though, so she wasn’t going to celebrate it too much. 

So far, no cars had driven by. Or maybe they had and just ignored her. All she knew was that no one had stopped and come to her aid so far. She wondered when her brother’s party would finish. At least then everybody would be traveling back home and see her along the way. Probably not until the wee hours of the morning though, she thought gloomily. And even then, who knows if she was even going the right way in the first place?

She was just beginning to accept her fate when she saw a bright light in her rearview mirror. Could it be? Had someone finally found her? Or was it just her imagination? She tried to twist and see who it was but was still unable to turn in her seat. 

She heard a car door slam and her heart started to beat uncontrollably in her chest. She wasn’t imagining things. Someone was here!

“Hey!” she heard someone shout. “Are you okay in there? Are you...Oh my gosh! Pidge!”

The person had come up to the driver's side window and was peeking in at her. Pidge’s heart leaped in her throat when she saw who it was. 

“Hunk!” she cried. 

“What the…? Pidge are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she beamed, thrilled to see her friend. “How’d you find me?”

“Well, when you didn’t show up at the party, we all started to get worried about you. We tried calling, but you didn’t answer. Matt was beside himself. We all were, so I offered to go out and try to find you.”

“Thank God you did,” she said, feeling a lot more tired since help was here. “Or I would have become one with the road.”

“Just stay tight,” he said. “I’ll get you out of there.”

“It’s not like I have much of a choice,” she pointed out but didn’t tease him any further. 

It took a lot of effort and a lot of cursing (Hunk never cursed before in his life, so Pidge took it upon herself to curse for him whenever she felt like he was getting frustrated) but finally, Pidge was free. Pidge had almost forgotten how it felt not to be crushed like a tin can. She was then forced to be crushed again when Hunk pulled her into one of his hugs. 

“Hey...buddy. You’re kinda squeezing me to death here,” she said in a muffled voice. 

“Sorry,” he said, letting go of her immediately. “Do you want me to take you to the hospital?”

“Nah,” she said, making her way towards his car. “I feel fine, really. Let’s get to that party.”

An evil grin formed on her face. She couldn’t wait to give Matt an earful. He had something coming for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I originally planned for this to be a situation where Pidge was trapped in a mudslide and Hunk dug her out, but it didn't turn out that way. First off, I don't know anything about mudslides, nor about what would happen if someone got trapped underneath one. Secondly, I wrote this in the middle of two essays so my brain was pretty fried, and I didn't want to research mudslides. 
> 
> I hope you don't mind that it doesn't completely fit in with the element theme, but it still kind of does (she's on the ground 🤷). 
> 
> Have a great day!


	3. Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was my favorite to write, so I hope you guys enjoy it! 😊
> 
> I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.

Keith sighed and checked his watch for the millionth time. She was late. She promised that she wouldn’t be, not after the last thirty-seven times. What was it going to take for them to finally get a real date night? 

The first time had been because of work, the second because of her brother, the third because of her dog, the fourth (well, actually the fourth was his fault as he had given her the wrong address but still) the fifth was work again, and so on and so on. 

All Keith wanted was a relaxing night alone with his girlfriend. Was that too much to ask?

Apparently yes, because that hasn’t happened once since they got together. 

Despite his better judgment, he pulled out his phone to call her. He didn’t want to do this, especially after how much she yelled at him the last time he called her for being late. Pidge didn’t like to be told she was late. She operated on a schedule all her own. When people complained about her tardiness, she would usually respond by telling them to stick their watch someplace where the sun doesn’t shine. 

But Keith had the whole evening planned out, and he wasn’t going to throw it all away just because he was a little afraid of his girlfriend when she was angry. Okay, he was more than a little afraid of angry Pidge, but anyone would be if they saw the fire in her eyes or heard the murder in her voice. 

“Oh thank Jesus,” came Pidge’s voice after only one ring, and Keith couldn’t help but smile, despite how annoyed he was. Just hearing her voice made him giddy inside. “I meant to call you, but I locked myself out of my phone.”

“How’d you manage to…?”

“I forgot my password.”

“Again?”

“Yeah, again.”

“I don’t understand you. You have a nearly eidetic memory and can spout off facts of literally any kind without much thought, but you can’t remember a simple 4 digit passcode.”

“It’s not my fault that I have to keep changing it cause MATT likes to hack into it whenever he can get the chance!”

“Okay. Okay. Fine. It’s your dog’s birthday.”

Pidge made a buzzer sound. “Wrong. Already tried that and it didn’t work.” 

“Rover’s birthday not Bae Bae’s.”

Silence. 

“Oh,” she said in a small voice. “That uh….um….That sounds right.”

“So what’s your excuse this time?” Keith asked now that the crisis at hand had been solved. “What were you trying to call me to tell me about?”

“Now don’t you sound so judgy,” she said, defensively. “I have a very valid excuse this time.”

“Do you now?”

“I do!” she insisted. 

“Then do tell.”

“I...uh.” Keith found himself grinning at how embarrassed she sounded. Whatever trouble she was in, it must be interesting. 

“Come on, Pidge, use your words.” How he loved to tease her sometimes. If only she were there so he could see her face get all scrunched up. It was really cute. 

“My bathroom door is stuck and I’m trapped inside,” she finally huffed. 

Keith groaned, unable to find any amusement in this situation anymore. Pidge’s apartment was decades older than his grandmother and was a complete mess. He had been begging her to get a new one for ages, as had her brother, Matt, and her parents. She refused, saying that she liked living in her moldy old apartment that was full of rats and who knows what else. 

Her heating system was practically nonexistent, her shower shot out water so hard it felt like getting pelted with hail, her stove never brought anything to a boil, her doors were always getting stuck, and the list of problems went on and on. The whole place was falling apart, but stubborn, stubborn Pidge refused to find a new place. Keith honestly had no idea what he was going to do with this girl. 

“Pidge,” he started exasperatedly.

“Don’t say I told you so. Do NOT say I told you so,” she interrupted. 

“Ok. I won’t,” he agreed in defeat. Really, what else could he do?”

“I just need you to help me out of here,” she said, a hint of sheepishness in her voice. 

“Already on my way,” he said, grabbing his keys and heading out the door of his (reasonably aged) apartment. 

“And this is why I love you.”

“I told you to get Hunk to look at that door ages ago.”

“Wow. I guess you really want me to love Hunk, now. I’ll let him know I’m available.”

“Shut up. I’m coming.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Pidge huffed and settled in. It would be a while until Keith got there, she might as well get comfortable. The space between the wall and the toilet was small and would have been nearly impossible for someone of normal size to squeeze into. For a midget like her, however, it was a piece of cake. Pidge was far from claustrophobic, unlike Keith who hated closed in spaces. It was large, open areas that made her feel nervous. She always felt exposed, like she was being watched. Tiny holes and crevices that even she had trouble fitting in made her perfectly at ease. 

She snorted as she scrolled past a particularly funny meme. Thank God Keith remembered every single time she changed her password and what she changed it too. She might be able to recite pi to the 237th place or remember what every single element in the periodic table did, but she turned into Neville Longbottom when it came to passwords. When Apple came up with the feature to lock your notes on your phone, she immediately created a lock on the note that contained all her passwords so that no one would be able to steal them. Unfortunately, she forgot the password she used to lock the note. 

Not even Keith had been able to remember it. 

Pidge would have been content sitting there on Reddit for hours on end were it not for the strange smell wafting in the bathroom air. She sniffed, looking around for the source. She hoped it wasn’t from something in the toilet. She didn’t think she could bear if it came from there. The building's plumbing system was crap (literally) and she often found her neighbors business ending up in her toilet. It was a nightmare to take care of. 

Fortunately, the smell wasn’t from her toilet and it wasn’t crap. 

Unfortunately, it was coming from the smoke that was seeping in under her bathroom door. 

Of all the days for her stupid apartment to catch on fire, it had to be the time she was trapped in her bathroom with no way out. 

She almost wondered why the fire alarm didn’t go off before she remembered where she was. The fire alarms in the building hadn’t worked for decades. Actually, she wasn’t even sure they had fire alarms. That had to be violating some kind of health or safety code. 

She pulled out her phone to call 9-1-1.

It was dead. Of course, it was. 

She wasted all the batteries of what could have saved her life on looking at SpongeBob memes. 

How typical of her. 

Everything that she had ever learned about fires in school swarmed her brain at once. 

‘Stop, drop, and roll.’ That was always associated with fires. But that was when you were ON fire. Her bad luck thankfully hadn’t gotten that far yet. 

‘To make it easier to breathe, put a damp cloth over your mouth and nose.’ She was sure she had heard that from somewhere before. She hurried over to her sink and ran her hand towel under the faucet before tying it around the lower half of her face. 

‘Stay low to the ground.’ That was easy. She was always low to the ground. She curled up into a ball on the other side of the room, keeping her eyes on the door, smoke continuing to pour in from under it. 

All she could do now was wait for Keith and hope that he wasn’t too far away. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Keith’s heart stopped in his chest as he pulled onto Pidge’s street. There were people all around the outside of her apartment building. Children, parents, college students, old people, most-if not all-of them in their pajamas. Some were crying, some were on their phones, others were completely still in shock. 

All of them were looking up in horror at the burning apartment building. 

Pidge’s apartment building. 

Keith put his car in park and flew out of the vehicle, not caring that he was in the middle of the street. He ran through the crowd of people, anxiously searching for the tiny girl with mousy brown hair and round glasses that held his heart in her hand. 

She was nowhere to be found. 

“Pidge!” he screamed. “Pidge!”

No one answered his calls. He looked up at the burning building, dread filling his veins. She wasn’t still in there. She had to have gotten out. 

He started asking around. 

“Have you seen Pidge? Pidge, have you seen her? Do you know if Pidge got out?”

The answers were all the same. None of them had seen her. 

Pidge was still trapped in her bathroom. 

He knew that it was too much for him to hope that she got out on her own, even if she had the incentive of possibly burning to death in a fire. Pidge may be a lot stronger than she looked, but she still couldn’t break open that door all on her own. 

“Does anyone know when the fire department is getting here?” he called out. 

“In about 10 minutes,” a man Keith recognized as Pidge’s landlord said. 

That was too long. Way too long. Pidge could already be burning alive, for all he knew. Keith shook his head. He would not allow himself to think that. But his panic was only growing. What if the firemen got there too late? 

Without any more hesitation, Keith did what he never thought he would ever do. Something that he was warned to absolutely never do throughout his childhood. 

He ran into the burning building. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Pidge was dying. She could feel the heat of the flames on her face, on her legs, on her back, everywhere. The bathroom was so filled up with smoke that she couldn’t see clearly anymore. Even though the fire hadn’t yet entered the room, she could feel her skin burning. She was burning. She was burning alive and there was nothing she can do about it. 

She coughed. The smoke was choking her, suffocating her despite the towel she wore around her face for protection. She couldn’t breathe. Her lungs were parched and she felt like she was hacking them up with every cough. She was thirsty. So thirsty. 

She had been panicking moments before, scared for her life and desperately screaming for help until her voice died, but now all she could feel was the heat. It was pressing down on her, making her feel so heavy. When she closed her eyes, she could see the imprints of the flames outside her door on the backs of her eyelids. 

The realization hit her that she was dying. She expected to be more upset at the thought, but it really meant that she was just getting closer and closer to no longer feeling any pain. 

It was very tempting. 

Her thoughts trailed to Keith. Where was he? He said he was on his way. How long ago had that been? 

The thought of Keith mourning her, of his face scrunched up in pain, his violet eyes full of tears, was worse than any thought of being burned to death. 

She couldn’t accept this fate. She couldn’t give up. She had to hold on. 

She had to. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Right when he opened the door, Keith was greeted with a faceful of smoke. He covered his face, coughing, but kept moving forward. There was smoke everywhere, but no fire yet. That was a good sign. Keith cautiously made his way up the stairs, going as fast as he dared on the rickety old steps. 

Pidge only lived on the third floor, so he didn’t have to go up to far. Unfortunately, this was where a lot of the fire seemed to be. Flames were crackling and curling along the walls, almost laughing at and mocking him. A whole section of the ceiling had collapsed in the middle of the hallway, but Keith managed to get around it. At one point, a spark of fire landed on his jacket and nearly set him ablaze. He caught it in time, though, and was able to pat it out before it reached his skin. 

After what felt like ages, he was finally at Pidge’s apartment. He tried her door. It was unlocked. If not for the extreme danger they were in, Keith would have felt the need to lecture her about leaving her door unlocked for anybody to just waltz in her home. 

Her apartment was filled to the brim with smoke and flames. Keith didn’t pause to get a good look at anything though. He marched to the bathroom door. 

“Pidge!” he banged on the door. “Are you in there? Are you ok?”

He heard a harsh cough. 

“Stay back!” He yelled before heaving his whole body against the door. After a couple of slams, the door gave way. 

While none of the fire appeared to have spread inside the bathroom, it was still filled with smoke. Keith coughed as he looked wildly around for his girlfriend. He nearly had a heart attack when he didn’t immediately see her, before spotting her curled up in the corner. 

He rushed to her side and pulled her into his arms. She was burning and covered in smoke. He stood up, carrying her close to his chest, and fought his way back through the apartment and down the stairs. 

By the time he made it outside, he had almost forgotten what fresh air tasted like. He breathed in what felt like gallons of it, worshipping the feeling of having clean lungs again. 

He felt a slight tugging on his jacket and looked down. Pidge’s eyes were lidded, but she was definitely awake. 

He smiled reassuringly at her. 

“I’m here,” he soothed. “I’ve got you. Everythings going to be ok.”

Pidge nodded, content with that statement, and snuggled into him. 

He was brought out of his reverie by the sound of alarms blaring. The firefighters had made it. The men in brown and yellow suits got to work immediately, even before the trucks completely stopped. Some strapped on masks and started heading into the building, while others worked on getting the hose ready. 

A couple of paramedics rushed over to him with a gurnee and helped him lay Pidge down on it. She tensed and jerked when she left his arms, but he assured her that he was right there. He wasn’t going anywhere. 

As he watched Pidge being tended to by the paramedics, Keith felt a huge weight being lifted from him. She was ok. She was safe. Everything was going to be ok. 

Maybe he should just let Pidge plan their dates from now on.


	4. Air

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last one! I hope you like it!
> 
> I don't own Voltron or any of its characters.

The wind whispered as silvery snowflakes sprinkled onto Pidge’s wooly cap. She adored the snow, especially when it was falling. Her breath came out like smoke and mixed with the frozen particles in the air. As she looked up to take in the beauty of it all, a couple of flakes kissed her nose and cheeks. She couldn’t help but stick out her tongue to taste the falling snow. It was flavorless, as always, but there was still something so satisfying about feeling the frost melt in her mouth. 

She hadn’t been too keen on Lance’s idea for them all to spend their winter break at a rented cabin in the woods, but it was looking to be great. They never got much snow where they lived, so coming here was a real treat. They arrived late the previous night, so they weren’t able to play much, but Lance still found the time to make 3 snow angels and half a snowman while everyone else brought all their belongings inside. 

The cabin was warm and cozy, especially with the fire Keith made in the fireplace. They spent hours sitting around the fire, laughing and telling stories. Hunk had attached himself to the kitchen and blessed them all with the most delicious cookies and hot chocolate. Shiro and Matt invested themselves in a very serious game of checkers about halfway through the night. At one point, Allura fell asleep on Lance’s shoulder, something that Pidge and Shay took immediate notice of. The two girls snapped as many photos as they could to tease their friend mercilessly about in the future. Lance was already sleeping and snoring by then and would have been thrilled at Allura snuggling with him, but he missed it. Pidge and Shay already vowed not to show him the photos. You snooze, you lose. 

Pidge sighed heavily. She was cold, even bundled up as she was with layers upon layers upon layers, but she was able to ignore it for the most part. The view was beautiful. The snow was pure and crisp, a shiny covering that transformed the normally bland landscape into a magical land full of wonder and mysteries waiting to be discovered. The grass, shrubs, and trees were all stained with white. The ground was as smooth and untouched as a cake and the snow fell like icing powder, perfecting it to its finest point. As if to perfect the look, the day was illuminated with that special cold, pale light only winter's Sun could give. She was glad to have woken up before everyone else for the first time in her life (that NEVER happened). Everything was peaceful and quiet. 

This had to be what heaven was like. 

Pidge lurched forward when something hit her in the small of her back. 

“What the..?” she looked around to see a laughing Lance running up behind her, his arms filled to the brim with round spheres of snow. Keith was right behind him, black hair covered in snowy white, looking as determined as Pidge had ever seen him. 

The cabin door opened, and Shiro, Hunk, Matt, Allura, and Shay appeared. All, save for Hunk, looking as though they had just rolled out of bed. Hunk was wearing an apron and had a spatula in his hand, most likely interrupted while being in the middle of making pancakes. 

“Snowball fight!” Lance yelled, pelting another at Keith, who managed to dodge it by throwing himself behind a tree. 

So much for peace and quiet. 

All of her previously sleepy and zombie-like companions immediately jumped into action. Seconds later, the air was filled with snowballs. Pidge could tell which ones belonged to each of her friends. Lance was very impatient, so his were not very compact and exploded on impact. They did seem to make the most mess though, as the little crystalline fragments stuck like glue to whatever they landed on. Keith made his snowballs just as quickly as Lance, but he was much more thorough, making sure that his hit a lot harder than the Cuban boy’s. 

Allura’s were perfectly round, almost unsettlingly so. Shiro was deadly accurate in his aim, never missing a shot. Hunk and Shay were working together. Their snowballs hurt worse than anyone else’s. Matt was completely hopeless. His snowballs never even made it to the ball stage. He was just running around throwing clumps of snow at people. 

Although the peace was ruined, Pidge couldn’t bring herself to mind it. She ducked behind Shiro’s truck and immediately got to work sculpting as many snowballs as she could. While they didn’t usually see much snow, Pidge had been in enough snowballs fights to develop a pretty good strategy. While everyone else was out and about, running around and throwing snowballs one at a time at each other, she would find a hiding place and create as much ammunition as possible. When everyone else had tired themselves out, she would leap out and pelt them all while they could do nothing to defend themselves. It was an excellent strategy and worked every time. 

Once she had created enough snowballs so that she was surrounded by them, Pidge finally let herself sit back against the truck. All that was left now was to wait. A couple of snowballs hit the side of her shield. Others whistle through the air above the hood. Pidge didn’t pay them any mind. As long as her friends didn’t find her, she’d be fine. 

“Ah-ha! I knew you’d be hiding somewhere around here, Pidgeon!” Lance crowed, appearing from on top of the truck. 

He was covered in snow, a stupid grin on his face and a bunch of flakes stuck to his eyelashes. He was wearing the same look he had while he was playing Pidge at Scrabble, but this was no war of words, and Pidge fought dirty. There was no way that she was letting him beat her. Snowball fights are war and wars just gotta be won.

Lance launched a snowball at her. Pidge just managed to avoid the frozen projectile by rolling out of the way, retaliating with a few of her own. One hit him in the face, which was very satisfying, causing him to fall off the truck. With her cover blown, Pidge had no choice but to gather as many of her weapons as she could and join the fray. Already the coldness of the snow had chilled her fingers through her gloves to the point where they no longer wished to bend. But cold or not, a snowball fight is a snowball fight and Pidge doesn’t give in. 

Not ever. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

After hours and hours of playing in the snow, Pidge thought she was going to collapse. The cold was starting to get to her, and she felt drained. After they all had been thoroughly beaten by Hunk and Shay (those two made a fantastic team) the group disbanded their snowball fight and went to making snowmen and snow angels. 

Lance thought it would be a brilliant idea to make himself into a snowman. Pidge and Keith were the only ones willing to make his dream a reality and spent what felt like forever carefully sculpting the snow around their friend’s body. As expected, Lance immediately got too cold and started to give up. Pidge stopped him by shoving a carrot in his mouth and snapping at him to be quiet. They had already spent too much time on this project to give up at that point. Keith had laughed so hard, Pidge thought he was going to cry. By the time they had finished, Lance was practically an icicle and Pidge and Keith were posting pictures of him on all of the social media that they owned. 

When Lance was free from his prison, he went back to the cabin, too cold to continue playing. That had been about an hour ago, and he still hadn’t returned. Pidge was sorely tempted to join him, and after suppressing this urge for a bit longer she finally caved. 

“I’m heading inside,” she announced to the group. 

“Already? We’re about to go sledding,” Matt whined. 

“Please, Pidge. Stay for just a bit longer,” Allura begged. 

Pidge shook her head. “No can do. I’m sorry guys, but I’m frozen out here. I need to warm up. We still have four more days up here. I’ll go sledding tomorrow, I promise.” 

Her friends grumbled, but they didn’t argue with her anymore. 

“I’ll walk you back,” Keith offered. 

“I’m a big girl, Keith. I don’t need an escort to walk to the cabin that is literally two feet away.”

“You never know,” He answered, arriving at her side. “You could get attacked by a bear or something.”

“It’s winter. All the bears are hibernating,” Pidge rolled her eyes, unable to stop herself from grinning. 

“Oh,” Keith said a little sheepishly. “Well, you could get lost. I know you and you’re horrible with directions. You once got lost on the way to Lance’s house, and he lives three houses down from you.”

“I was 6!” Pidge said defensively. 

“Yeah, yeah. But you haven’t gotten much better since then. Besides, I need to get the sleds anyway. Might as well make sure you stay on track.”

Pidge sighed but didn’t argue any further with him. Truth be told, she rather enjoyed Keith’s company. It was oddly comforting. It took them all of five seconds to get to the cabin, and PIdge did not get lost. Not even once. 

“Told you I’d be fine,” she told her dark-haired friend. 

“That was only because I was here, offering my guidance.”

“Oh, shut up,” she slapped his arm. “I swear, you can be just as annoying as Lance when you want to.”

“You take that back right now,” he said seriously. 

“Nope,” Pidge grinned, running up the stairs before he could come up with a retort. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

After an incredibly warm, hot shower, Pidge pulled on her coziest PJs and settled into the best armchair by the fire. Lance was by the flames, poking the wood with a fire poker to keep it burning. Pidge felt something nudge her leg and looked down to see her and Matt’s dog, Bae Bae, by her side. 

“What’s wrong, girl?” she bent down. “You need to go outside?” 

Bae Bae wagged her tail and hurried over to the door, confirming Pidge’s theory. 

“Ok. Ok, girl. Wait just a second. I'm coming.”

She slipped on her jacket, shoved her feet into her boots, and opened the door. Bae Bae practically jumped into the snow and ran over to the nearest tree to relieve herself. Pidge smiled as she closed the door behind her and walked closer to her beloved pet. She shoved her hands into her pockets as a particularly cold gust of wind washed over them. It had been lightly snowing all day, but the flakes were coming down quite a bit harder now. Pidge looked up to the sky. There was still light shining through the clouds, but it was getting dark fast. 

Pidge whistled. “Here girl. Here girl.” 

Bae Bae had finally finished and was heading back to Pidge when a branch snapped. Both Pidge and her dog whipped their heads around to see a squirrel scuttling deeper into the forest. Bae Bae took off after it. 

“Bae Bae no!” Pidge yelled, racing after her dog. 

She ran as fast as she could, but the snow was so high that she was struggling to make her way through it. She had lost sight of Bae Bae but could hear her barking in the distance. As she went on, the snow came down faster and faster. PIdge shivered, her teeth chattered, but she kept going. 

After a good amount of time trekking through the frozen land, PIdge finally gave up. There was no way that she’d be able to find her dog by herself, especially with the weather getting worse. She’d have no choice but to ask for help. Her friends should be back from sledding by now. 

Pidge turned around to start heading back but stopped almost immediately. She looked around. Nothing seemed familiar. She whirled around, but everything looked the same. She had no clue where she had come from. Her heart sank. 

Just like Keith predicted, she was hopelessly lost. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

The snow was damp. Every step felt like walking in mud. The weather had gotten ten times worse. Pidge had never seen a blizzard, but if she had to guess, she was certain she was in one now. The wind howled, piling up the snow in drifts, blinding the night with ice-white dust. Even if she did know which way to go, the usual landmarks were hidden behind the white that swirled so densely. The soft crystals she found so bewitching earlier that day, found their way into her jacket in every possible way. They packed down her neck and between the fabric that flapped at the front. She could feel her blood cool and her skin become icy. The world was being erased around her, and she'd be with it if she didn't find the cabin. 

She was trapped in a swirling storm of screaming silver, sanctuary nowhere in sight. 

“Hello!” Pidge yelled. “I anybody out there? Help me! Please!”

If there was anyone around, they still wouldn’t have been able to hear her shouts. Her voice was swallowed by the wind, which bit harshly at her face, making it feel raw. Frosted air forced its way into her lungs and stung her eyes. Her teeth chattered uncontrollably. She tensed her muscles, bringing her limbs in closer, and bent her head to the oncoming wind. The loose snow from the ground became tiny missiles in the gust and she began to squint to retain any vision at all. 

Still, she kept going. Though her feet were beginning to freeze and her footsteps were small, sinking in past her ankles with each stride, she had to keep moving forward. If she stopped, then she would be giving in to an icy grave.

‘That’s it,’ she told herself. ‘Just put one foot in front of the other. That’s all you can do. One foot in front of the other. You’ll be back in no time.’

The universe didn’t seem to want to help her out though, because right as she was telling herself that, she tripped over a tree root and tumbled into the snow. She tried to pull herself back up, but she honestly couldn’t find the strength to. 

The snow kept falling, slowly burying Pidge within its icy clutches. Flakes pelted against her frozen cheeks, clinging to her eyelashes and hair. She couldn’t move her fingers and toes, they were so immobile from the cold. 

All she could do was close her eyes and accept her fate. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Shiro put his hand in front of his face, but it did little to shield his eyes from the stinging wind and snow. He didn’t let it deter him, though. He had to keep going. Keep looking. 

On their way back from sledding, the group had run into Bae Bae. They were all confused by this which quickly turned to horror when they arrived back at the cabin. Lance was there, saying that Pidge had gone out with Bae Bae about ten minutes ago and hadn’t yet returned. 

Everyone immediately sprung into action. Lance and Hunk paired up, Keith and Matt went off together, and Shiro was left to search for Pidge on his own. Allura and Shay offered to stay back at the cabin just in case Pidge returned, but Shiro could tell that the girls wanted to search for their friend just as much as anybody. 

A particularly strong gust of wind hit Shiro’s front, and it took everything he had to stand his ground. His worry increased dramatically. How was Pidge doing out here? She had to be frozen. 

The freezing air bit and stung at every bit of skin he had exposed. Shiro wanted nothing more than to turn around and head back, but he couldn’t. Pidge was still out there somewhere all alone. He would not be leaving this forest without her, even if it took him all night to search for her. 

It seemed like it would take all night, at the rate he was going. The sky was so dark that he wouldn’t have been able to see at all if he hadn’t brought his flashlight. 

A flash of green caught his eye. 

Shiro stopped in his tracks, shining his flashlight to his left. There was no denying it. Something was buried in the snow over there. Something wearing a bright green coat. 

A rush of adrenaline raced through Shiro’s body as he ran to where the coat was, nearly tripping over a tree root in the process. Despite how numb his hands were, he dug like a madman. He dug and dug and dug through the snow, not stopping until the body buried beneath was completely free. 

With Pidge in his arms, Shiro was finally able to relax. He brought the tiny girl against him, wincing at the feeling of her forehead against his cheek. She was ice-cold. He held her a little bit away from himself so that he could get a good look at her. 

She was breathing, but her eyes were closed with no sign of them opening. Her lips were blue and she was pale. So, so pale. She looked dead, and Shiro would have assumed she was if not for the soft rising and falling of her chest. 

Even though she was alive, she wouldn’t be for long if she was out here for much longer. Shiro ripped off his coat, not caring that he was now vulnerable to the fierce cold, and wrapped it around Pidge’s tiny, tiny body. She was so small that the coat was like a dress on her. That was good, as it meant more of her was covered. 

Shiro lifted her into his arms, keeping her close to his chest, and ran as fast as he could back to the cabin. Somehow the journey back felt so much shorter than the search. As soon as he made it through the door, Allura and Shay were at his side. Shiro shoved Pidge into Allura’s arms. 

“Get her into some new clothes, now!”

Allura wasted no time in doing as she was told, sprinting to her and Pidge’s room. 

“I’ll call the guys and tell them that Pidge is back,” Shay said, pacing in front of the roaring fireplace as she pulled out her phone. Thank goodness they got signal up here. It wasn’t good, by any means, but it was just enough. 

Shiro nodded, exhaustion hitting his body all at once. He shuffled his way into the room that he shared with Keith and collapsed on the bed. He might have fallen asleep right there if it weren’t for his soaking wet clothes. 

By the time Shiro changed and walked back out into the living room, the rest of the boys had returned. Matt was on the floor in front of the fireplace, holding Pidge in his arms who looked to be wrapped in at least 12 different blankets. Allura was at her side, taking her temperature. Hunk was in the kitchen, probably making some cocoa. Shay was in there too, getting some heating pads. Keith and Lance were in the corner, doing their best to stay out of everyone’s way. 

He went over and sat down opposite Allura at Pidge’s other side. Some color had returned to her face, which he was relieved to see. 

“She’s going to be just fine,” Allura said, answering his unspoken question. “She doesn’t have frostbite and she’ll be warm again in no time.”

Shiro nodded, content with that answer. 

When Pidge woke up a little while later, everyone was still in the living room. The small girl blinked as if trying to get her bearings. 

“How are you feeling?” Shiro asked, placing a hand on her forehead. 

“Boiling,” Pidge replied without any hesitation, kicking the blankets off of her and causing Matt to nearly fall over. 

Everyone laughed, and the final weight on Shiro’s chest was lifted. Everything would be just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I know a blizzard isn't classified as an air issue but save for a tornado I couldn't think of anything else. 😂 Let's just say that since the air was freezing it counts. I hope you enjoyed it anyway!
> 
> If you want to read these as a connecting story, the order of events would be chapter 1, chapter 4, chapter 2, chapter 3. 
> 
> I will be writing more stories, but it will be a little while. College is a lot of work! I hope you all will read what I post! Thank you so much!


End file.
